


Sights Unseen

by Caryn_B



Category: Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Post-Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-03-07
Packaged: 2018-09-30 13:05:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10163642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caryn_B/pseuds/Caryn_B
Summary: Not everything is as it appears on the surface.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Written in 2006 for a 30 minute time-limit challenge for the Luke_and_Han Yahoo Group.

"Han, what're you doing on your day off?"

Han eased himself out from underneath the hangar's communications console and looked warily at Luke.

"Why?" he asked suspiciously.

From anyone else, Luke's question would be innocuous enough, conjuring up fantasies of nice hot sun, chilled drinks, lazing around not doing very much, and just generally having a good time. After all, wasn't that normally what days off were about?

But this was Luke, and Han had spent days off with Luke before. Lots of them, in fact.

Routinely, it meant Han got to use his precious free time helping Luke waste his by doing something nobody else would do, unless they were paid a huge number of credits for it. Like the time Luke had made Han transport all the old Alliance foodsynths down four hundred levels into the bowels of Coruscant, so the displaced population who lived down there could get to eat something other than dead rats. Han's next day off had been spent installing them all. 

And then there'd been the trip over to Talias. Han knew it had a nice lake for swimming, because he'd glimpsed it through the trees whilst they'd spent the entire day stripping down the village's only remaining starfighter. And then putting it back together again. Luke enjoyed challenges, and if it meant getting covered in engine oil in the process, then so much the better.

"Well, there's something I want to show you," Luke said. 

Again, if it'd come from anyone but Luke, a comment like that might've led to all sorts of interesting speculation. At least, it might, if speculation about anyone other than Luke interested Han, which it didn't. As it was, Luke had probably found yet another dispossessed community, too small to warrant the full attention of the Alliance, but right in Luke's line of vision. 

"Really?" Han said resignedly, foreseeing mud, having nothing to eat for hours on end, nothing decent to drink and overuse of the medkit from all the cuts and bruises he'd end up getting.

"You'll need a warm jacket," Luke added.

Right. So it was to be mud, starvation, drink deprivation, injury _and_ cold. 

***

Luke's enthusiasm for his private schemes never really left room for refusal, and even if it had, Han would still have been here, following Luke along some strange, rocky little track only a few miles from the military base.

The reason for the glowtorches Luke had insisted on bringing became obvious, when Luke paused by the entrance to a natural tunnel, partly hidden from view by overhanging bushes.

Han added 'dark' to the list of anticipated discomforts, activated his glowtorch, and scrambled in with difficulty after Luke. 

The tunnel dived down quite steeply, and it was slippery and irregular underfoot. Every time Han reached out to the sides to maintain his balance, his hand encountered something wet, squelchy and unpleasant. What was that ridiculous saying about following someone to the ends of the world? Much more of this and he'd start to believe in it. 

He knocked his elbow on something sharp and unyielding, and let out another elaborate curse, which Luke ignored completely, just as he'd ignored the previous ones. But then, Luke had heard them all before anyway, and never once been deflected from his purpose by any of them.

Luke, naturally, wasn't having any problem making his way down the passage. Apart from the fact that he'd obviously been here before, Luke was one of those people who seemed to know instinctively when to duck his head, and how to miss stepping straight into water-filled potholes. Han blamed the Force for that. He wriggled his toes inside his boot, wondering how much wetter his feet could get.

At last, Luke stopped, turning round to wait for Han to join him. Despite the depth of darkness, Han could see Luke reasonably well – or at least the top half of him. Imagining what lay beneath their feet didn't feel like such a good idea, so Han held his torch determinedly high. He swung it slowly around the enclosing walls, highlighting patchy areas colonized by more of the spongy, moisture-loving plant he'd become acquainted with on the way down.

They were in a small, circular cavern, with rubble from past roof falls littering the floor. If this was their destination, it didn't appear to have any redeeming features at all. Not that a little matter like that would be likely to deter Luke.

"Where to now?"

"Nowhere," Luke said, smiling. "This is it."

"It's a cave," Han said heavily.

"I know."

"An empty cave."

"That's where you're wrong," Luke said. "But you'll have to be patient."

"That figures," Han muttered. He _could_ be patient, however unlikely Luke thought the chances of it were. In fact, if anyone were to come along and ask Han to isolate just one of the things he owed to Luke, he could choose his vastly increased capacity for patience. These days, it was greater than Luke could possibly imagine.

"You have to shine your glowtorch on the water," Luke explained, totally unfazed by Han's skepticism.

At first, Han wondered which particular puddle Luke might mean. He'd trodden in most of them. But then he saw that Luke had made his way over to the other side of the cave, to crouch down low next to a tumble of boulders. Moving forwards, Han noticed that the far edges of the rocky floor held a small pool of water. He squatted beside it, examining it cautiously, because anything could happen when Luke was around. Knowing Han's luck, some dianoga-like thing would lurch out of the depths and drag Luke back down with it. 

The surface of the water was utterly still, and as pitch black as it was possible to get. Han wondered how deep it was, because his glowtorch seemed to make no impression on its opacity. 

He glanced over at Luke, who was studying the surface of the pool, gradually passing his torch beam from one end to the other. Then something caught the corner of Han's eyes.

He looked back down at the water, and saw that it was rippling gently. And then slowly, little by little, the color of the pool began to change. First to a mottled blackish blue, and then through a series of dark greens, blues and reds. The rippling increased to more of a swell, and the colors grew brighter, intensifying in a fluctuating blend of vivid turquoises, glowing silvers and deep, powerful purples. 

Han stared at it, mesmerized and fascinated, until the reason for the transformation became apparent. A myriad of tiny lifeforms had bubbled up to the surface, drawn to the rare source of illumination. The creatures resembled small, floating, feathery stars, but richly and infinitely colored, incandescent with a pulsing energy that seemed to reach out to the glowtorches, feeding on the soft beams of light.

Then, all too soon, it was over, the undulations subsiding slowly, and the colors dimming as the creatures made their way back down to the depths once again. Han wondered how long they lived, and if they waited for moments such as this. That just by chance, a flicker of light might make its way into their habitual darkness.

He looked up to meet Luke's eyes, knowing that there was no need to say anything. It'd been a brief moment of amazement, and one that was difficult to put into words. They'd both seen so much and experienced so much, that they might've found it easy to become offhand about life in all its diversity. But then something would come along and throw all that complacency back in their faces. 

He grinned at Luke, and Luke smiled back at him. It was one of those smiles that always caught Han unawares. The sort that made him forget what he was about to say, or left him stumbling around wondering which way he was meant to be walking. And now, it made Han think that anything and everything was possible, if he simply opened his mind to the opportunities. 

Han knew that Luke did that all the time. He perceived the possibilities in things that others would simply dismiss. Because here he was, barely able to take the time to find one minute for himself, yet he'd discovered this place. Probably late at night, Han guessed, on some solitary walk, searching for the more bizarre manifestations of the living Force that meant so much to Luke. It was everywhere if you took the trouble to look for it, Luke had said. And on finding this, Luke had wanted to share it with Han.

"You know," Han said, pulling himself up slowly from beside the pool, "we don't see enough of each other."

Luke looked up, surprise behind his eyes. "We see each other every day."

Han shook his head with exasperation, mostly at his own inability to express things properly. "Yeah, sure we see each other. Go to meetings, drink in bars, get shot at, fly our ships..."

"But...?"

"I mean we don't _see_ each other. We don't stand back 'n look. We don't see the little things."

Luke frowned slightly. "If you think I look at you, and just see what's on the surface, you're wrong. I think we know more about each other than that. You came here with me, for one thing."

"What're you talking about?"

"Well, you could've been spending your time doing something else. Going out with the guys, relaxing, having fun, whatever. But you let me drag you into some dark cave just to look at a pond."

"It's hardly just a pond," Han objected.

"No, but you know what I mean. You gave up a perfectly good day off to do this."

Han stared at him, wondering why it was that Luke, with all his vision and perception, could be so oblivious to some of the more blatant things in life. "Luke, just c'mere will ya?" he said gruffly.

Luke edged around the edge of the pool, and walked over to Han. "What?"

"Listen. Where do _you_ think I'd rather be right now? In some cozy little cantina, with a good bottle of brandy? Nice and warm, comfy seats, lots of company, all the guys braggin' about their latest conquests, Wedge falling over on his way to the bar? Nothing else to worry about 'cept how to make it back to bed in one piece? Or here with you, in this poky little cave, fallin' over my feet 'cause I can't see where I'm putting 'em, and where it's so freakin' cold I'm gonna freeze to the spot any minute?"

"Doesn't sound like much of a choice," Luke said.

"No – but that's the way _you're_ thinking. And it's 'cause you don't see everything about me."

"Nobody can see _everything_ about someone."

Han hooked his glowtorch onto his jacket, and placed his hands on Luke's shoulders. "And it just wouldn't occur to you to look for some things."

Luke was silent for a moment, just studying Han's face. Han held Luke's gaze, watching the succession of thoughts that materialized as subtle changes of expression, and passed, almost imperceptibly, through Luke's eyes.

"Probably not," Luke admitted.

"But you're wonderin' about it now," Han stated.

Luke hesitated for a moment, before giving a very slight nod. "I... maybe." He sounded vaguely puzzled.

"So you've got your answer. About where I'd rather be. And maybe you're gonna work out a few more things too."

"D'you want me to work them out?"

Han grinned. "I should've known this wouldn't be straightforward. Yeah, I want you to work 'em out. But just 'cause I figure you oughta know. Not for any other reason."

"These other reasons being things you think I might not want?"

"Well, yeah," Han said. "After all, hauling someone into a cave oughta be a simple enough thing. You've already got more than you bargained for."

"That doesn't mean I don't like it," Luke pointed out.

Han moved his hands off Luke's shoulders and placed his palms on either side of Luke's face. "Okay, so now you know how I feel about you. It won't change anything."

"What, nothing at all?" There was an undercurrent of amusement in Luke's voice. "That'd be a shame."

"What d'you mean?"

Luke smiled at him. "Well, I can think of at least one very obvious thing that would've been nice to change."

"I... didn't think you'd want... you know, things to go like that," Han said fumbling around for the right words, because it'd been one of _those_ smiles Luke had given him again.

"That's because you don't see everything about me." Luke slid a hand around the back of Han's neck, reached up and kissed him, just briefly.

"But now you're starting to realize," he added.

"Yeah," Han managed, his voice turned croaky.

"Good. Then you've probably guessed I'm slowly freezing to death stood here, and maybe we should think about going somewhere else."

"Yeah. We can think about that," Han agreed. "In a minute." He sought Luke's mouth with his own for a kiss that, this time, wasn't at all brief and left no room for ambiguity.


End file.
